San Jose wins the award for the most boring and plain MLS uniforms ever.
Saturday, August 22, 2015
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Beckerman skates, Saborio plays soccer
I'm not sure what Beckerman is doing, a little pretend skateboarding it looks like while former RSL'er Saborio plays a nice ball over to his teammate.
Friday, August 7, 2015
Joao Plata's early goal secures Champions League win for Real Salt Lake
(by James Edwards deseretnews.com 8-4-15)
Playing in Central America is never easy for MLS teams, but that didn’t seem to bother Real Salt Lake on Tuesday night as it opened CONCACAF Champions League group play with a dream start.
Joao Plata scored just three minutes into the match, and then Nick Rimando made a critical save late in the game as RSL held on for the 1-0 victory over Municipal in its first of four CCL Group G games.
Three nights earlier in a league match at D.C. United, Plata scored an early goal as well, but 90 minutes later RSL walked off the field a 6-4 loser. On Tuesday in Guatemala, all 11 players defended with much more purpose to make amends for the defensive debacle in D.C.
RSL’s next Champions League match isn’t until Sept. 15 when it travels to El Salvador to face Santa Tecla. Its final two group games will be at Rio Tinto Stadium, and after winning the opener on the road, RSL jumped right into the Group G driver’s seat.
It’s been three years since Real Salt Lake last participated in Champions League play, and in that 2012 opener it lost at Herediano in Costa Rica 2-0. It could never dig itself out of the hole and finished second in the group.
Plata helped get RSL off to the perfect start.
After Municipal’s keeper punched away a Javier Morales cross, the rebound only went as far as Plata. He took a slight touch and then uncorked a bouncing shot between a Municipal player’s legs and into the back of the net for the very early 1-0 lead.
Municipal nearly equalized in the 41st minute, but former L.A. Galaxy striker Carlos Ruiz caromed a bending free kick off the cross bar.
In the 66th minute, Plata was unlucky not to bury a second goal when a defender jumped to clear his shot off the line.
Rimando was called up throughout the night to make clutch plays, but none was bigger than his 78th minute save on an unmarked Ruiz after a Municipal cross rolled through the box right to Ruiz. Anticipating the shot, Rimando dove to his right and smothered what could’ve easily been the equalizer for the home side.
For Real Salt Lake, it has another quick turnaround this Saturday as it travels to Vancouver for a league match.
--------------------
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865633881/Joao-Platas-early-goal-secures-Champions-League-win-for-Real-Salt-Lake.html
Playing in Central America is never easy for MLS teams, but that didn’t seem to bother Real Salt Lake on Tuesday night as it opened CONCACAF Champions League group play with a dream start.
Joao Plata scored just three minutes into the match, and then Nick Rimando made a critical save late in the game as RSL held on for the 1-0 victory over Municipal in its first of four CCL Group G games.
Three nights earlier in a league match at D.C. United, Plata scored an early goal as well, but 90 minutes later RSL walked off the field a 6-4 loser. On Tuesday in Guatemala, all 11 players defended with much more purpose to make amends for the defensive debacle in D.C.
RSL’s next Champions League match isn’t until Sept. 15 when it travels to El Salvador to face Santa Tecla. Its final two group games will be at Rio Tinto Stadium, and after winning the opener on the road, RSL jumped right into the Group G driver’s seat.
It’s been three years since Real Salt Lake last participated in Champions League play, and in that 2012 opener it lost at Herediano in Costa Rica 2-0. It could never dig itself out of the hole and finished second in the group.
Plata helped get RSL off to the perfect start.
After Municipal’s keeper punched away a Javier Morales cross, the rebound only went as far as Plata. He took a slight touch and then uncorked a bouncing shot between a Municipal player’s legs and into the back of the net for the very early 1-0 lead.
Municipal nearly equalized in the 41st minute, but former L.A. Galaxy striker Carlos Ruiz caromed a bending free kick off the cross bar.
In the 66th minute, Plata was unlucky not to bury a second goal when a defender jumped to clear his shot off the line.
Rimando was called up throughout the night to make clutch plays, but none was bigger than his 78th minute save on an unmarked Ruiz after a Municipal cross rolled through the box right to Ruiz. Anticipating the shot, Rimando dove to his right and smothered what could’ve easily been the equalizer for the home side.
For Real Salt Lake, it has another quick turnaround this Saturday as it travels to Vancouver for a league match.
--------------------
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865633881/Joao-Platas-early-goal-secures-Champions-League-win-for-Real-Salt-Lake.html
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
Real Salt Lake dives back into CCL play after 3-year hiatus
(by James Edwards deseretnews.com 8-3-15)
Just three days removed from its bizarre loss at D.C. United, Real Salt Lake will try to shift focuses to CONCACAF Champions League play on Tuesday night in Guatemala.
In its first of four CCL group games over the next two months, RSL faces Guatemalan club Municipal (8 p.m., Fox Soccer) at Estadio Mateo Flores.
This is Real Salt Lake’s third participation in the Champions League. In the 2010-11 tourney, RSL lost in the final to Monterrey. Two years later in the 2012-13 version, it failed to advance out of group play.
RSL’s all-time record in CCL play is 8-4-4.
After a three-year hiatus, Real Salt Lake is back in group play, and its first game comes during a very congested part of its schedule. RSL, Municipal and Santa Tecla (El Salvador) will all play each other twice, with the group winner advancing to next year’s knockout stages.
“It’s a really exciting part of the season, we have everything to play for in front of us. Lot of important games and a lot of games that have been riding on it, it’s a good time to be a player on this team,” said Kyle Beckerman prior to RSL’s departure last week.
RSL coach Jeff Cassar said lineup rotation would be necessary for the club to be competitive throughout its five-game, 15-day stretch, which still includes games in Guatemala, Vancouver, Kansas City and then home at Rio Tinto Stadium.
Guatemala native Elias Vasquez is among the players who will likely start on Tuesday after being an unused sub in the 6-4 loss to D.C. United. Nick Rimando could also feature in the match after being held out against D.C. United with a knee contusion.
Guatemala’s Liga Nacional just kicked off its 2015 Apetura season on Sunday, with Municipal falling to Mictlan 1-0.
--------------------
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865633786/Real-Salt-Lake-dives-back-into-CCL-play-after-3-year-hiatus.html
Friday, July 24, 2015
A sports league that's unprofitable—but hopeful
Major League Soccer is, by some measures, very successful. The problem is that it doesn't make money.
(by Zac Bissonnette cnbc.com 12-5-14)
With the MLS championship game set for Sunday, indicators for the future of the league are mixed. On the one hand: rising attendance, an influx of interest driven by this summer's World Cup, and the largest TV contract in American soccer's history. On the other: dismal TV ratings, and league-wide losses of more than $100 million per year.
One thing that is certain is that the quality of play has improved: The 2010 World Cup featured six MLS players. The 2014 edition featured 31. Luring athletes of that caliber into the less internationally prestigious American game has come at a high cost, and no other professional sports league exhibits the income inequality of MLS. Seven of the league's 572 players earn about a third of the league's total annual payroll of $130 million, according to a New York Times analysis. For the non-millionaires, player salaries start as low as $36,500.
Historically, marquee contracts for international soccer stars have failed to lead to widespread interest in the United States. When Pele signed a $4.7 million contract to play for the North American Soccer League's New York Cosmos in 1975, he declared that "You can say now to the world that soccer has finally arrived in the United States." It had not; the league was out of business 10 years later. For now though, improved quality of play and average in-stadium attendance figures that rank below only the National Football League and Major League Baseball among American sports have TV networks feeling optimistic. A new, 8-year contract to air MLS games on ESPN, Fox Sports, and Univision will bring the league revenue of $90 million per year, up from $18 million per year under the contract that expires this year.
That deal was surprising to many in light of the league's struggles with drawing television ratings. In spite of slight year-over-year growth driven by the exposure that came with the World Cup, this year's MLS games on ESPN and ESPN2 had their second-lowest ratings since 2008, roughly on par with the WNBA.
"It's a difficult sport to televise, in that (American) football uses a similar-sized field, but all the players are concentrated in a very small area," said Douglas Logan, the league's first commissioner, from 1995 until 1999, and now an adjunct professor at NYU. "[With soccer], the players are widespread. If you show it all, you can hardly follow the ball. It's difficult to provide the American audience with the kind of pictures they want."
Dan Courtemanche, the league's executive vice president of communications, said that more standardized viewing times that come with the new contract will help MLS games become "appointment viewing" and lead to higher ratings. "There are 70 million soccer fans in this country," he said. "The opportunity is there. We just need to convert all those soccer fans into fans of their local MLS clubs."
Willing to take a chance on that opportunity, more national brands than ever are establishing sponsorship deals with the league, with Heineken and Chipotle among the most recent sign-ons.
Jim Foster, a former National Football League promotions manager and the founder of the Arena Football League, said that MLS looks better positioned to break into the elusive top tier of American sports than any other sports league ever has. Foster's optimism starts with a young, diverse fan base that is, according to the league, 30 percent Latin American. Overall, the league has a higher concentration of fans in the coveted under-30 demographic than any other sport.
"Major League Soccer now has the tangibles it needs to be successful," Foster said. "You have so many transplants in this country that have come with an interest in soccer. Then you have these suburban white boys who grew up playing it. They have a much better base to work with than they did the first time around."
Logan, the league's first commissioner, is also optimistic—but dismisses the grand ambitions of a new major American sport that come with much of the media's coverage of MLS.
"My position on 'making it' as a sport is that you have the resources to play next year," he said. "Starting a league is a generational proposition, and can't be measured in 4- or 8-year horizons. Now we're closing in on 20 years. We're going into a second generation, and we're picking up fans who weren't even born when the league was born. It's a real success."
--------------------
https://www.cnbc.com/2014/12/05/major-league-soccer-mls-works-hard-to-become-a-profitable-business.html
(by Zac Bissonnette cnbc.com 12-5-14)
With the MLS championship game set for Sunday, indicators for the future of the league are mixed. On the one hand: rising attendance, an influx of interest driven by this summer's World Cup, and the largest TV contract in American soccer's history. On the other: dismal TV ratings, and league-wide losses of more than $100 million per year.
One thing that is certain is that the quality of play has improved: The 2010 World Cup featured six MLS players. The 2014 edition featured 31. Luring athletes of that caliber into the less internationally prestigious American game has come at a high cost, and no other professional sports league exhibits the income inequality of MLS. Seven of the league's 572 players earn about a third of the league's total annual payroll of $130 million, according to a New York Times analysis. For the non-millionaires, player salaries start as low as $36,500.
Historically, marquee contracts for international soccer stars have failed to lead to widespread interest in the United States. When Pele signed a $4.7 million contract to play for the North American Soccer League's New York Cosmos in 1975, he declared that "You can say now to the world that soccer has finally arrived in the United States." It had not; the league was out of business 10 years later. For now though, improved quality of play and average in-stadium attendance figures that rank below only the National Football League and Major League Baseball among American sports have TV networks feeling optimistic. A new, 8-year contract to air MLS games on ESPN, Fox Sports, and Univision will bring the league revenue of $90 million per year, up from $18 million per year under the contract that expires this year.
That deal was surprising to many in light of the league's struggles with drawing television ratings. In spite of slight year-over-year growth driven by the exposure that came with the World Cup, this year's MLS games on ESPN and ESPN2 had their second-lowest ratings since 2008, roughly on par with the WNBA.
"It's a difficult sport to televise, in that (American) football uses a similar-sized field, but all the players are concentrated in a very small area," said Douglas Logan, the league's first commissioner, from 1995 until 1999, and now an adjunct professor at NYU. "[With soccer], the players are widespread. If you show it all, you can hardly follow the ball. It's difficult to provide the American audience with the kind of pictures they want."
Dan Courtemanche, the league's executive vice president of communications, said that more standardized viewing times that come with the new contract will help MLS games become "appointment viewing" and lead to higher ratings. "There are 70 million soccer fans in this country," he said. "The opportunity is there. We just need to convert all those soccer fans into fans of their local MLS clubs."
Willing to take a chance on that opportunity, more national brands than ever are establishing sponsorship deals with the league, with Heineken and Chipotle among the most recent sign-ons.
Jim Foster, a former National Football League promotions manager and the founder of the Arena Football League, said that MLS looks better positioned to break into the elusive top tier of American sports than any other sports league ever has. Foster's optimism starts with a young, diverse fan base that is, according to the league, 30 percent Latin American. Overall, the league has a higher concentration of fans in the coveted under-30 demographic than any other sport.
"Major League Soccer now has the tangibles it needs to be successful," Foster said. "You have so many transplants in this country that have come with an interest in soccer. Then you have these suburban white boys who grew up playing it. They have a much better base to work with than they did the first time around."
Logan, the league's first commissioner, is also optimistic—but dismisses the grand ambitions of a new major American sport that come with much of the media's coverage of MLS.
"My position on 'making it' as a sport is that you have the resources to play next year," he said. "Starting a league is a generational proposition, and can't be measured in 4- or 8-year horizons. Now we're closing in on 20 years. We're going into a second generation, and we're picking up fans who weren't even born when the league was born. It's a real success."
--------------------
https://www.cnbc.com/2014/12/05/major-league-soccer-mls-works-hard-to-become-a-profitable-business.html
Thursday, July 23, 2015
Friday, July 17, 2015
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)